2011 Brilliant Ring Champion Fire and Ice Photo: Law	The Oldenburg Elite Mare Show and Brilliant Ring in Rastede, Germany The Oldenburg Mare Championships are held once a year in July on the grounds of the castle built by Graf Anton Günter von Oldenburg in the village of Rastede, Germany which is located on the outskirts of the city of Oldenburg. The Graf began transforming an old monastery on the grounds into a Royal Stud in 1612 and in 1648 rebuilt the entire facility to also accommodate a hunting lodge and summer residence. The grounds have since been transformed and are now used annually for the Oldenburg Elite Mare Show in conjunction with the Oldenburg State Championships. The process for a mare to be selected for the Oldenburg Elite Mare Show begins with the March inspections which take place every year. Out of hundreds of 3 and 4 year old mares that are inspected by the Oldenburg Verband in Germany, only a select group are invited to go on to the Mare Performance Test. Out of those mares, around 100 are awarded the States Premium Candidate title, and then out of these States Premium Candidates, approximately 60 are invited to the Mare Show in Rastede. These figures can obviously vary from year to year based on the quality of the mares presented, and in 2011, fifty-five dressage mares and seventeen jumper mares were invited. Once in Rastede, the mares are presented in hand on the triangle to the judging committee. For the jumper mares, the top six were invited into the final walk ring, they were ranked, and the champion was named. For the dressage mares, sixteen were invited in to what is called the "Brilliant Ring" where each mare is trotted in hand into the main stadium of the grounds, and then they were all asked to walk in a large circle around the judges who then ranked them, and named the champion. The 2011 Oldenburg Elite Mare Show The three year old mare, Fire and Ice, stole the hearts of the judges and the crowd, and was the named the Oldenburg mare champion of the 2011 Brilliant Ring. She was sired by De Niro and is out of St.Pr.St. Free Life (Lord Liberty x Friderica (Riesling)). Honored as well was the Springpferdezuchtverbandes Oldenburg-International (OS) Jumper Mare Champion, Contessa D, sired by Canturo and out of El.St. D-Cremona (Corrado I x Zola (Landgraf I)) who had received an outstanding 9.5 on her free jumping in her earlier Mare Performance Test. For the full report and videos, please click here.